Special Delivery: Succession Planning
AHL Henderson Silver Knights

Special Delivery: Succession Planning

Published on June 30, 2026 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Henderson Silver Knights News Release


The path to becoming an NHL head coach is much like that of the journey to becoming an NHL player: varied and non-linear. Fortifying that notion is the fact that one-third of today's NHL bench bosses never played an NHL game - which really isn't the point here.

Ryan Huska is three years into his tenure with the Calgary Flames having played one NHL game, while the Washington Capitals' Spencer Carbery never made it out of the ECHL as a player. He, too, is three years in for the Caps.

What both share is their journey in the coaching profession that included different roles at different levels in different organizations until, finally, they made the big league. But neither reached that goal until both had run their own team at the AHL level and also served as an Assistant Coach at the NHL level.

Like anything, there are outliers to this base progression. Martin St. Louis in Montreal and Rick Tocchet come to mind, with St. Louis going right behind the Canadiens bench never having coached professionally in any capacity and Tocchet never having spent any time in the minors running his own program.

Uniquely, the Vegas Golden Knights have unveiled a succession plan for coaching within their organization. Newly named VGK Head Coach Ryan Craig came directly out of the playing ranks to join the inaugural coaching staff as one of three assistant coaches. After being part of the staff on the Stanley Cup winning team in 2023, Craig took over as Head Coach of the AHL affiliate Henderson Silver Knights, performing as bench boss for the last three seasons. It was an apprenticeship that served him well, guiding the team to their best finish in franchise history this past year.

Joel Ward joined the Golden Knights organization as an Assistant Coach for the 2020-21 Silver Knights campaign. When Craig made the move from the VGK staff to assume head coach responsibilities for the HSK, Ward moved up to fill the assistant coaching vacancy at the NHL level. Now, with Craig moving up as Head Coach of the VGK, the path is there - as it was for Craig - for Ward to get his first taste of running his own program at the AHL level.

Providing both NHL experience and head coaching experience within a clubs' construct isn't always the norm. Typically, those in the coaching profession have to leave one organization to pursue the next opportunity that best serves their career. In this instance, both Craig and Ward have longstanding ties to President of hockey Operations George McPhee (Ward played four seasons for the Capitals when McPhee was the GM) and GM Kelly McCrimmon (Craig played five seasons in the WHL for McCrimmon's Brandon Wheat Kings team). Both are well-versed in the VGK culture, meaning the moves serve the moment and continue to build a consistent organizational foundation.

You can't spell succession without success. The VGK brass is authoring both when it comes to the coaching profession and organizational planning.

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American Hockey League Stories from June 30, 2026


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